Written by Amrita Prakash, a grade 7 student

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an American Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, has passed away. She was 87.

Ginsburg, who was the second woman in history to serve as a justice in the Supreme Court, is best known for her contribution to fighting for gender equality and women’s rights. Popularly called RBG, she was also sometimes called ‘Notorious RBG’ because asked tough questions and stood up for people’s rights.

She saw tough times

The daughter of an Austrian immigrant, Ruth faced many oppositions. She chose to study law at a time when women were not considered good enough for the profession. So, even though she topped her class – Columbia Law School – no company agreed to give her a job, because she was a woman. She said she fought three biases – mother, woman and Jewish (she was a Jew).

Even her professor at the prestigious Harvard university thought she had wasted a seat which could have gone to a man.

Ruth took up teaching and became a professor of law at a university called Rutgers Law School. Then in 1971, she fought a case for women – called Reed v Reed – and won it. It was the first gender discrimination case of the court.

From then on, she fought for women’s rights.

In 1972, she co-founded an initiative called the Women’s Rights Project. Under this, she fought for many causes. She stood up for the voiceless and fought hard for those who were looking for justice.

Her illness and strength

Justice Ginsburg battled with everything in her life – even with her illness.

In 1999, she was diagnosed with cancer. She got treatment and got better. Ten years later, the cancer came back. RBG battled with it again. In December 2018, she got cancer in other parts of her body – this time in her left lung. In August 2019, she got it in her pancreas.

Apart from, being an icon for gender rights and justice she also became an icon for fitness. Throughout her fight with her illness, RBG went to the gym regularly. This added to her popularity – of someone who was determined to fight at every level. She inspired millions to stay fit.

Here’s one of her fitness videos:

If you want to know more about her life, ehere’s a great video (source CNN)

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